Former state official to head gambling board
Stephen Crosby, a former top official under governors Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift, will head the powerful new commission that will decide many crucial casino regulations.
Most Occupy Boston protesters get one year of probation
Of the more than 20 protesters arraigned today, most agreed to plead guilty to trespassing and received probation.
Bank of America ranks last in customer satisfaction survey
Credit unions and smaller banks generally scored better than big banks, but even among the biggest retail banks, Bank of America came in last.
EDITORIAL
School-assignment plan — a relic in need of a full overhaul
A fear of segregation drives Boston’s labyrinthine school lottery system, but the city must find a better way to overcome the sins of the past.
G Cover
With holiday decor, how much is too much?
For every spouse who sees an enormous illuminated Santa and thinks “that’s just what my chimney needs!’’ there’s often another with a less charitable view.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
Cheri DiLauro with her daughter, Taylor Rocco, 4, as they looked over some of the tree decorations they have made over the years.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
DiLauro gets her family together, both young and old, and they decorate, wrap presents, and make crafts together.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
Two of several decorations that Cheri has placed around her home to make it cozy for Christmas.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
Homemade decorations, like this glittered gingerbread man made by her daughter, adorn the tree at Dilauro's home.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
Some books placed in the corner of the couch for reading. "On Top of The World" has a picture of Taylor inserted.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
Two important portraits surround an Elf on the Shelf, daughter Taylor's christening photo on the left, and a portrait of Cheri with her grandmother, Martha, on the right.
Steve Haines for The Boston Globe
A Santa drives off with a reindeer in a toy car.
Alex Beam
Just another holiday newsletter - or is it?
A family’s annual missive includes glad tidings of a bundle of Joye and other upbeat news in a down economy.
US alleges fraud in Friendly’s case
The owner of Friendly Ice Cream Corp. allegedly made moves to avoid paying retirement benefits to nearly 6,000 workers and retirees.
“People may think he’s faking or he’s not telling the truth, but that man walks the walk and talks the talk.”
Broncos safety Rahim Moore, on Tim Tebow’s spirituality
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
Councilors quiz Feeney on clerk’s job
When the Boston City Council interviewed Maureen Feeney as a finalist to be the next city clerk, it may have done more than rile advocates calling for a transparent search.
Business
Copley tower to include 48 affordable housing units
Simon Property Group will build all 48 of its required affordable units in the 47-story tower, dropping a prior plan to build all but 10 off-site.
Politics
Obama’s advisers say GOP moving too far right
Advisers outlining the president’s 2012 strategy said they believed the Republican primary process will push the party’s candidate too far out of the mainstream to win.
Nation & World
Protesters halt operations at 3 West Coast ports
Occupy Wall Street protesters blocked cargo trucks at busy ports in California, Oregon, and Washington, forcing terminals to halt operations.
Sports
BU hockey standout kicked off team after arrest
Corey Trivino, the leading scorer in Hockey East, is accused of indecent assault and battery and assault with attempt to rape.
Arts
STAGE REVIEW
‘Eddie Coyle’ steps off the page
Bill Doncaster and Stickball Productions have turned George V. Higgins’s crime novel, “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,’’ into an atmospheric, enjoyable theater piece at Oberon.
Lifestyle
G Cover
Wreck the halls
The National Retail Federation predicts Americans to spend $46.73 per person on holiday decorations. But the NRF doesn’t keep stats on couples who disagree on how much — if any — should be spent on decking the halls.
Fall All-Scholastics
All-Scholastics
Fall All-Scholastics: Honoring the area’s best
A Boston Globe tradition continues as we toast local athletes from Barnstable to Georgetown for their achievements this fall.
Opinion
“In politics, being wealthy is hardly a disqualifier; if it were, we’d have a vastly different Senate.”
Joanna Weiss
Ideas
The ability to coordinate among the different senses seems to be something the brain learns; we’re not born being able to do it.
Courtney Humphries